This blog is dedicated to encouraging people to make quilts and laundry bags to send to Aussie service men and women currently serving overseas and to express our gratitude for their service. We care about the people - not the politics or the mission.
Our quilts are not works of art, but works of the heart.

Friday, 28 December 2012

Quilts of the Week 28 Dec and farewell 2012

2012 is nearly gone. Bring on 2013!!

952 quilts and 1361 laundry bags to date!

Given the holidays it might be a little quieter in Aussie Hero-ville than usual but there are still a few quilts making it to the mail each week and after the New Year I am sure the numbers will start to rise slowly again.

Liz, with kangaroos on point this time

Heilie has completed her first AHQ

Liz sent it on its way with a matching laundry bag perfect for a West Aussie lad.

and the back - minus the initials.

A few extra laundry bags made it into a box and off to some 7RAR ones. I reckon there might be a bit of competition for some of these. Rock, paper, scissors anyone? I think my favourite is the skate boarder though!

Claire did a tutorial for this one if anyone is interested

Caroline created this and it is worth noting this is all the scraps left over from one meter pieces that Caroline has bought for laundry bags. Great use of scraps!

Caroline went a little APE over this one! LOL

Kaye

Excuse the smudgy patch - covering up the letters!

Lynn made this gorgeous top, I took it to Paul and Paula for quilting and then I finished it off with black roo.

Can I just say that I love these robots!!!

Michelle put her sewing machine to good use again with more of "My Country" plus the map of Australia and the popular quote PLUS, my current favourite, the Rising Sun!

Gotta love the Garfield Bag!

This is a laundry bag that I sent off earlier and had to wait till his mum let me know that it has arrived safe and sound.

Two Wounded Warrior Quilts were sent on their way to re-stock supplies. This one is by Vicky

and this is one by Tarnyia.

I have taken to making Aussie Laundry bags to go with the WWQs as the soldiers get to take nothing with them when they go- a nurse travels with them with enough money to buy emergencies bits and bobs and I believe that they receive a backpack full of basics from the RSL but I figured the laundry bag would come in handy for carrying the quilt home or even once home, for use in the hospital.

I had had a ball sewing this last week. This is one of my projects.

Every surfie needs a dog right - modelled after my own little girl of course!

And of course the obligatory laundry bag to go with it.

And then there is this one that I prepared, well sent, earlier but for obvious reasons, (look at the bottom left) I could not show till it had been received. Well it arrived around Christmas Eve I think! This is just a simple quilt with a few aircraft and fish and interesting prints but then I sent it off to Paul and Paula!

They knew it was for a very special Doctor (well that is what everyone tells me he is!) and they went to town on it. It is quilted with BANDAIDS

CRUTCHES

SYRINGES

AND STETHOSCOPES!

Don't you just love it! I was like a cat on a hot tin roof waiting for this one to arrive. And when it does I received a lovely photo

and a gorgeous thank you message.

I personally have
been so touched and blessed by your generosity and thoughtfulness, and by those
that contribute to your wonderful work (in particular Paul and Paula). XXXXX (medic) (quilt by Kaye) and XXXX (nurse) (quilt by Terry) who I work with have likewise been deeply
touched and are very grateful for your time, effort and the amazing gifts you
send.

That
AMAZING quilt!! I was stunned!! I've got it laid out on my
examination couch at the moment (it will be on my bed soon!) and have spent
quite some time studying it; delighting in all the little, ever-so-thoughtful,
intricacies sown into it!! I would very much appreciate it if you could
pass my gratitude to Paul and Paula too for their part in crafting it.
The quilt is something I will always treasure and also take with me
whenever I deploy. There is something very comforting about having it
that's impossible to really explain but just 'is'.

Well, this is it! The last post for 2012. Aussie Heroes is almost one year old. Amazing where we started and where we have come to. Fitting that Tarnyia has a quilt in the last post for 2012 when she was one of the very first quilters to come on board before Aussie Heroes had officially been born!

We didn't make it to 1000 quilts in the first year but we are very close and I am more than happy with that. We currently have 43 requests on the books that are not allocated, though most of them are not due home till June/July and 61 requests that are currently under construction. So I guess you could say that we have over 1000 quilts on the books as of year's end! YAY!

Just a little point. We would not normally have that many requests unallocated but I am not sending out a lot of emails at the moment calling for quilts as I know people are taken up with family and holidays. As quilts become available I am allocating quilts based on return to Oz dates. Those coming home soonest get the first quilts. If you want to make a quilt for someone do not hesitate to let me know.

And the last word tonight is for the Navy. HMAS TOOWOOMBA, the vessel that will take over from HMAS ANZAC on pirate patrol in the Middle East sailed today! I have already met with the chaplain, we had coffee just before Christmas and he is a lovely man, as you would expect. We are going to start working on quilts for HMAS TOOWOOMBA pretty soon so if you are interesting in sewing for them please let me know. Mail for HMAS ANZAC was woefully slow and unpredictable it seems so we are going to try and get goodies in the mail to TOOWOOMBA much sooner if we can.

To those on TOOWOOMBA we wish you fair seas and following winds.

Till next year...............keep spreading the word and happy stitching!

4 comments:

Friday's posts are so exciting with all the photos of finished items posted and I love looking at all the patterns and ideas. Such wonderful quilts tonight that will be a huge blessing to those who receive them - especially the wounded warrior quilts. What a great idea to include a laundry bag/storage bag with those. I am particularly taken by Lyn's blue top and wonder if she'd share the pattern for that sometime.

What a fantastic year it has been too!Love All the wonderful quilts and laundry bags, the letters and e mail thank yous. Thank YOU for having such a wonderful Idea in the first place and getting it all up and running. I Know I will be supporting you for many many years as long as I can sew. 2013 will see it going from strength to strength.